I really get the feeling that some stand-up comedians simply use race as a fallback incase they are sinking.
Tuesday night at The Blues Room in Sandton, a couple of the comedians started to sink and I wish they had. Comedy nights at The Blues Room are a gas. They generally get in top class acts to rip through some fantastic jokes and observations.
Four guys performed last night. Three of the four were black and one guy was a man of colour, but not coloured as he noted, but not white either. Anyways that is besides the point. The point is, comedy is great, laughing is awesome, the occasional well placed insult at an audience member is fantastic but at somepoint if you keep insulting me for being white I’m going to be pissed off.
Out of the four guys the MC – Loyiso Gadwa (please correct me on his name if you know better) was by far the best and most together act of the night. Strangely so in fact as he had the toughest job and longest set. He dragged us out of the depths of suicide and made us laugh everytime he stepped on to the stage.
But then came Ronald or something. A young black guy from Pretoria. Ronald had it for a minute or two but then he threw it away. Racial jokes are great when they are well placed but there is MUCH more to life in SA than race in every situation! Put it this way; I know what my faults are and it is amusing to have them pointed out but don’t tell me what “white people don’t do” or “can’t understand” when I do and understand. Then I get pissed off. The key to a great comedian is phenomenal observation skills. This Ronald character may as well have worked at Mc D’s cause he has obviously never seen a white person other than the Pretoria locals he encounters occasionally. The dude lost it and almost ruined the nite with his crass swearing and over-the-top language in every joke.
The next dude I can’t even tell you what his name is. He was that forgettable so I wont delay.
Loyiso came back on, blew us away and then it was time for Trevor Noah. Trevor is the not so white, not so coloured guy. He was brilliant. After 2.5 hours of racial innuendo’s and blatant awkward insults Trevor was a breath of fresh air. Not a single racial joke in a half an hour-ish set.
The crown jewel in all of the jokes was one related to Dtv (Deaf TV) and muting the sound to answer a phone. The guy was brilliant, effective, equal, honest and open. His skits included stuff about airport announcements around SA, accents, Television, sports and much more. The most refreshing thing was that he insulted, berated and applauded every race as human beings and equals.
I hope I got the two comedians names right, if I haven’t please let me know. If you get a chance to see them sometime, treat yourself.
But I leave you with this note; race is old, outdated material, the man who ventures beyond the obvious will win the laughs of the masses.
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November 8th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I agree completely, and its been bothering me for a while.
I find comedians like David Kau have built their whole act around racialism.
It was funny when Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor did it in the eighties and the first few times we heard it from SA comedians, but I think its getting old.
I dont think its cause im white, im sure the black people must also get sick of the stereo typing .
Even Russell Peters seems to go on and on.
there has to be a lot more funny things out there.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:12 am
Race definitely has its place in comedy. After I’m a black American female comedienne–I’m not going to knock it. (lol) But I did write a piece on my blog about “the N-word” in comedy. Perhaps, you might take a gander?
http://standup101.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-reaction-to-n-word.html
This seems like a great blog. I like the “edgy” discussion. It’s about time. I’m glad I’m not the only one willing to talk about the “touchy” stuff.
Cheers, from NYC!
November 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Hey Lucy!!
Thanks for visiting the blog. How’d you find it? Thanks for the input, there is a place for race in comedy, but there is a way to do and a limit to how much an audience can take I suppose.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Firstly, its Loyiso Gola, that you are trying to remember, who insidently, snapped up awards in the recent S.A. Comedy awards.
He also has a show running at the moment called Loyiso for President – a must see.
Now regarding the topic thread.
Whilst I whole heartedly agree that when you`ve heard one race gag, you`ve heard them all. I also understand why the guys and girs especially the newer ones use the topic to such an exstent.
(I dont by any means wish to make it look like its the right route, just I understand)
Stand Up comedy only really works when one is talking about topics you both know about and are passionate about. Think about being an astronaught, the gags / material you could write about the solar system would be never ending. A number of our younger “Starter” comics are so busy finding new material they loose the plot as the only topic they understand is the racial devide they are living in, thats the total content available. In South Africa ten years ago 90% of the material was sexual and then thank goodness along comes, fresh blood and now we are in a new rutt.
However, I do agree that venues do that to the unsuspecting punter, they put a good comic on as M.C. and as Headliner and then scatter the lne up with what ever they can get, and its only so they dont have to pay for the art. The bottom line is that if they book open spots thats what they get.
But hey, it is after all comedy so taking it tooo seriously would be a strange decision.
To Jamie, I can`t answer you regarding Russell Peters, being an interantional performer I have no idea what he bases his material on however I know our South African comics are trying to relate to their local audience.
P.S. Cool Blog
December 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I was at the just because comedy festival recently. And must say that I agree that Trevor and Loyiso are both brilliant comedians. I think the funniest jokes are the ones we can relate to. I dont know anything about astronomy so I dont think i will find jokes about it funny. But I know a lot about different races and so do most ppl. So what do these comedians do? Talk about things we can relate to most. Thats race issues. I love it.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I agree that race in conedy is outmoded and inappropriate these days. But guess what, even here in UK the race ticket in comedy has never really left the stage and is about to make a comeback.
As part of Europe , the UK is the most sought after place to work. And so the country have to acccept and take in workers from all parts of EU. The town of Reading (home of the Reading FC Premier soccer club) has a very large Polish communisty. So huge they now even print the local Reading Evening Post in Polish.
And Reading has a Jongeleurs Comedy Club. You can bet that like the USA have their Polish jokes, the UK will be getting them too.
I do not like stand up. In fact I do not like live theatre. But even still, I do not like to think that a comedian will include racist jokes in his show. Bad form and shows complete lack of ability to innovate and create new gags.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
i agree with most of you, i think some comedians take the race issue to another level whereas they were suppose to help in removing that from other peoples minds. after all when one goes to a standup comedy show, then it means that one wants to laugh and enjoy, not be hurt and not be reminded of the past.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Don Rickles, Bill Hicks, Steven Write, Dane Cook, and Andrew Dice Clay when I hear those names I think of my niece, Malory and a finger painting she made. It was stick figures and a sun in the corner. Hanging on the refrigerator it looked like my old paintings that I gave my mom when I was a kid. “Is it as good as Fank-oid-ite,” she said as well as a four year old can say Frank Loyd Wright.
“Yes it is, even better probably. You are awesome. You are special.” I say that to my four year old niece, because that’s what you say to a child when they act like a child. That’s what they are supposed to do.
Don Rickles was a genius as was Frank Loyd Wright. He pointed out ethnic differences that other wise went un-noticed. He made fun of the audience. He was ground breaking. He was cutting edge – at the time. But to do that today is not cutting edge. To make fun of some ones ethnicity today, in a culture that celebrates diversity, is totally inappropriate. Additionally it is sixty years out of date. So if you want to make fun of the audience, especially because of their race you have missed the boat. You look like a kid with a finger painting claiming to be Frank Loyd Write.
Rickles is a genius but those who came after and didn’t know how to do it right have damaged comedy beyond repair. To this day people don’t go to clubs because they don’t want to get made fun of. They don’t wan to sit in the front row, especially if they have a distinguished feature, strong ethnic look or any uniqueness. Don’t make fun of the audience. It’s an old trick. It’s someone else trick and you’re hurting the industry.
Bill Hick, genius, honest and ground breaking for the time. He said everything that needed to be said about porn and masturbation. There fore you don’t need to say anything about it. It makes everyone feel uncomfortable to come out on stage talk about that subject. It might be funny to your and your friends that know you but the audience doesn’t know you. You are a stranger. Be vulnerable on stage but be vulnerable about something other than that. Be vulnerable about something that no one has talked about. Hicks was cutting edge because he went against the culture, he talked about what everyone wouldn’t talk about. Today everyone talks about it so you aren’t new. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if Hicks were alive today he would say, “There’s too much porn. Get a life. Get out of your house, you whining, distracted, unattractive sons of Satan.” Don’t talk about porn. Do talk about a new topic of vulnerability.
Steven Wright had a low energy because he has low energy. He was being himself. You need to do the same thing: Be yourself. Be your energy. Too many comics are taking the stage and waiting for the audience to applaud after saying one line. Steven Wright has taken a good chunk of the jokes that are going to be able to survive that energy level in the same way that Carrot Top has taken any prop jokes that are going to survive. Furthermore, we live in a society of impatient. Research shows that if the average person can’t log onto a web site in 7 seconds they go to another web site. As a comic you have got to be Google efficient. You got to deliver fast enough to keep their attention. You are doing yourself a favor by brining comedy with energy, your energy.
Dane Cook is a great example of high energy comedy. You can see his influence at almost every open mic in the country. But again as soon as you look like Dane Cook you are no longer on the cutting edge. The audience has seen it. Be your energy.
Andrew Dice Clay? I personally don’t like his material at all and I don’t see any redeemable quality in his work. However, he did sell out arenas so he must have figured something out. My personal views aside, he has said everything filthy that needed to be said. Don’t try make a career that was already be capitalized on. You look silly. Be smart. Be cleaver. Be original. If you have an original idea and then you take it as dirty as possible it starts to sound like you are lifting Clay’s material even if you have a new idea. Don’t go blue just for the sake of going blue. It’s been done.
In conclusion, don’t make fun of the audience, don’t talk about porn and masturbation, don’t come out with no energy say one thing and wait for the audience to adore you, don’t be Dane Cook, and don’t be dirty just to be dirty. Do appreciate the audience and thank them for coming out. Hope that they do and they bring people so we don’t pass out so many fliers, post and repost bulletins. Do talk about vulnerabilities that you have that no one else has talked about. Do go out and earn your laughs. Do smart, creative, original funny comedy. Do create the new thing. And if you still feel like you need to make fun of people, talk about porn and masturbation, with no energy or some one else’s personality and be filthy about it than all I have to say to you is, “You are awesome. You’re special aren’t ya.”
For this and other blogs on comedy go to http://www.myspace.com/azstandup
May 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
So many comedians like to use the race thing or use politics a very time when a comedian says jokes they use white people insulting black or zulu,xhosa people which not nice people are getting bored now by this. they must look for other jokes get creative
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I know I am late to the party but I agree wholeheartedly. If I hear another race joke I may scream. Fortunatly there are some great young comics coming through the ranks now 2009; who never do race stuff. Look for them and you are sure to be blown away: Melt Sieberhagen, Hannes Brummer, Warren Robertson, Vittorio Leonardi, Shaun Wewege..all top top acts who always make me laugh.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
@Mandy: Thanks!
It is unfortunate that comics fall back on race gags. Here is the problem though – do you try educate your audience and push boundaries with your act; or do you give the punters what they pay for? Much of this depends on the room – an audience of older, conservative folks tend to prefer plays on stereotypes and jokes; while educated students might be able to follow a comic when he or she makes an observation about an everyday situation.